On the Move

Northstar New Jersey, the private company that operates New Jersey’s lottery, has received a $30 million incentive payment for hitting its scaled-down revenue targets for the 2016 fiscal year that ended June 30. For two years previously, the lotto company had missed revenue goals specified in the 15-year contract it signed in 2012 to manage Powerball and other games for which the state receives 30 percent of the revenue. The lottery sold a record-breaking $3.2 billion in tickets and gave just under $1 billion back to the state that year.

The 2012 deal was controversial because Northstar was the only bidder, and because GTECH Gaming, a part owner of Northstar, had used lobbying firms that had connections to Gov. Chris Christie. Northstar is headquartered on Brunswick Avenue in Lawrence, in the same building where the lotto was headquartered when it was owned by the state government. (U.S. 1, October 7, 2015.)

The lottery was on track to miss its revenue target again but renegotiated its contract with the state to reflect lower anticipated revenues. Northstar will now collect up to 3 percent in incentives, rather than 5 percent, to hit revenue targets that are lower by about $76 million a year.

“Record-breaking sales enabled the lottery to make a record-breaking contribution to its beneficiaries,” Carole Hedinger, New Jersey Lottery executive director, said in a press release. “Increasing revenue required innovation, such as introducing a new play-style with Fast Play; relaunching players’ favorite instant games, resulting in new sales achievements; and bolstering winner awareness and jackpot excitement around the draw-based game category.”

Had revenues fallen short again, the lottery would have had to pay a penalty to the state for missing its goals.

Colliers International, a real estate firm, has added three new associates to its Alexander Park office. Brett Incollingo focuses on office tenant and landlord office representation. Prior to joining Colliers, Incollingo worked for Credit Suisse as a business analyst. He has a degree in business and technology from Stevens Institute of Technology.

Patrick Norris specializes in office tenant and landlord representation. Norris previously interned for Stoltz Real Estate Partners, KW Commercial, and the O’Donnell Group. Norris earned a bachelor of business administration in real estate from the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business.

Troy Skibitsky specializes in industrial tenant and landlord representation. He holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from the College of New Jersey School of Business.

The venture capital firm Edison Partners has put $10 million into Zagster, the Massachusetts-based bike-sharing company that has set up one of its programs in Princeton. Zagster also operates around 140 such programs in 35 states and Canada, focusing on small and medium-sized cities, universities, corporate campuses, and residential properties.

“Zagster represents an exciting opportunity for Edison to ride the millennial and urbanization trends and invest in the sharing economy. The company has significant market momentum and a highly recurring-revenue model,” said Tom Vander Schaaff, general partner at Edison Partners. Edison’s investment was part of a Series B financing round.

In 2014, the bike-sharing company came to the town of Princeton and later the university. The company charges a one-time $20 membership fee that allows users to take a bike from a Zagster stand for up to two hours by entering a code into an app. After two hours, Zagster charges $2 an hour for the bike until it is returned.

Zagster boasted of quadrupling its number of bikes in 2016 as well as launching Zipbike in San Francisco in partnership with car-sharing service Zipcar.

#b#Deaths#/b#

Joseph Gambino, Jr., 56, on December 30. He was director and chief information officer of the state Civil Service Commission division of information technology and management.

Eugene J. “Johnny” Constance Jr., on December 28. He was director of the speech and hearing clinic at Trenton State College and was manager/speech pathologist for E.J. Constance & Associates in Ewing.

Kenneth Friedland, 86, on December 26. He was the proprietor of Loeffler’s Provisions in Hamilton.

James Lamb, 81, on December 24. Together with his father James E. Lamb, he owned Lamb’s Farm Market and Garden Center in Yardville.

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